Why Donald ducked: Cruz and Rubio were pressed on their flip-flops; Trump should have been too

The Republican primary debate Thursday night, the last before the Iowa caucuses, nicely called candidates to account.

The Republican primary debate Thursday night, the last before the Iowa caucuses, nicely called candidates to account.

Moderators confronted Marco Rubio with a video montage of his own statements opposing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and challenged him on later backing a bipartisan Senate bill to create just such a path.

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Rubio could only say, "I do not support blanket amnesty. I do not support amnesty."

He now opposes any legal status for the undocumented, but the moderators showed clips in which he spoke about amending the same bipartisan bill in hopes it would pass. He was left to say that he offered the rider in an effort to kill the legislation.

Moderator Megyn Kelly put it to Cruz: "Was that all an act? It was pretty convincing."

One man escaped the impossible task of explaining inconsistencies and hypocrisies because he ran away from the debate: Donald Trump.

Perhaps that was for the best, because a montage of Trump flips and flops would have consumed the two-hour event.

A very incomplete list:

On the campaign trail, he pledges to build a wall along the southern border, paid for by Mexico. He also promises that a "deportation force" will send 11 million undocumented immigrants back to their home countries.

Four years ago, Trump called Mitt Romney's self-deportation policy "mean-spirited." And last June, after declaring his candidacy, he said of illegal immigrants:

"You have to give them a path and you have to make it possible for them to succeed."

On the trail, Trump calls Obamacare a "complete disaster" while also saying he would replace the health insurance plan with something that covers everyone, and that "the government's gonna pay for it."

In a book published in 2000, Trump criticized Republicans who "walk the NRA line and refuse even limited restrictions." He also wrote, "I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun."

On the trail, Trump is clear about the issue of abortion: "I'm pro-life and I've been pro-life a long time," he says.

In 1999, while saying that he hated "the concept of abortion," Trump proclaimed himself "very pro-choice," and "pro-choice in every respect," including opposing a ban on so-called partial-birth abortion.

In September, Trump declared, "We're going to make our military so big, so strong and so great, so powerful that we're never going to have to use it."

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In October, speaking of military spending, he said, "We can do it for a lot less."

That same month, speaking of the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, Trump said, "We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place."

Later that month, he protested, "I've never said we made a mistake going into Afghanistan."

In September, speaking of Syrian refugees, Trump said, "I hate the concept of it . . . but on a humanitarian basis, with what's happening, you have to" accept some, because "they're living in hell."

Less than a month later, Trump rejected accepting any refugees, saying taking in even 10,000 could result in "one of the greatest military coups of all time."

In August, Trump said he would "send troops in" to Iraq and "bomb the hell" out of ISIS-owned oil fields.

In September, Trump welcomed Russia's involvement in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria, saying: "Let them fight it out. Let Russia take care of" ISIS.

In a book published in 2000, Trump proposed raising the Social Security retirement age to 70. Asked in September if he still supports the idea, he said, "Not anymore. . . . We're not going to raise the age and it will be just fine."

In 1999, Trump called for a one-time 14.25% tax on the rich. His new tax plan would cut taxes across the board and, by independent estimates, increase deficits by $10 trillion over a decade.

Lacking a philosophical core and afraid of scrutiny, it's no wonder that Trump ducked the debate. It would have been brutal.